Motivation is a topic that has a lot of research. Still, today, cause they are other forms of motivation that are still found, yet they are different and are always evolving. In society, you need goals (goal-setting theory), which could be linked to motivation. This helps to achieve your job/tasks. In school, there’s always a goal set, to motivate students to work. The positive consequence of work would be able to have a wider decision on the sector. This would start from a young, such as acquiring a skill, like reading. How can we find motivation?
Firstly, we need to define motivation, then observe the different factors of motivation.
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Motivation can be found anywhere, in all different topics. Not only in the work industry, but also in sports, school, goals, and many other places. We can define it by the conditions responsible for variations in intensity, persistence, quality, and directions of ongoing behavior (Vinacke 1962). Therefore, it’s a sort of response to wanting something done. It’s something that drives us to want to work. Anyhow, there are different ways of defining motivation.
In the 90s, jobs were something that’s characterized to put food on the table and have a roof over their heads. We could observe an evolution of the work today, due to employees are more likely to choose a job that they like. At the present time, more and more people get to have the opportunity to have a third level education and as result, they have a job that they are passionate about. Therefore, the factors of motivation today were not the same as before. It keeps evaluating.
Work motivation is defined by a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual to initiate work-related behavior and to determine its form, direction, intensity, and duration ( Pinder, 2008).
One of the factors affecting motivation at work is wanting to have success. Usually, all workplaces want to have success in their company or organization. Success is a big factor in motivation, and the consequence of this motivation is a bonus or a raise. Is an enormous motivator for the employees. Raises or bonus helps to motivate because it means economic security, for there debts or they could live more comfortably (we can observe that with the equity theory).
We can also observe, the factor of success with David McClelland's theory, acquired needs theory, which proposed that motivation is set by the needs of the person. Everyone has different needs, it is represented in three points. In the first place, there is a need for achievement. This need is characterized by the must to win, to be on top, and receive the credit for the work. The negative of the need is the fear to fail and not have responsibilities, such as not delegating the work properly and having an overload of work, or fear to fail. Then the need for power (wanting to influence others and make an impact). Lastly, the need for affiliation, (which is to want to have friendships, to feel accepted, and to engage with others) (Dr. Joan Tiernan, 2019). In this theory, an individual is supposed to have an influential need, which motivates more than the two other needs. This factor leads to money, being another important factor that affects motivation.
This brings us to the Theory of Hierarchy of Needs from Maslow, in 1943. In his theory, he explains in a pyramid, the way of understanding how actions are motivated. It starts with the physiological needs, these are like the basic needs to survive for an individual (breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep). Then there are the safety and security needs, which represent the needs of being protected physically (property) and morally (health, family, social stability, employment). In addition, there is a need for love and belonging. It’s represented by the need to be a part of a group, such as social or relational. This can be firstly indicated by families, then friendship, intimacy, and then a sense of connection. Fourthly, it’s the self-esteem need that corresponds to the need for consideration, reputation, and recognition of glory, which is represented by others or belonging groups. It’s also the need for self-respect and self-confidence. Lastly, the last need is self-actualization, it corresponds to the need to exploit its personal potential in all areas of our lives. It depends on the individual. For some, it will be the need to study, to learn more, to develop one's skills and personal knowledge, for others it will be the need to create, to invent, to do.
Secondly, stress is another factor in motivation, some studies show that under pressure, there’s this motivation that quicks in, in consequence of stress. In the report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of living and working conditions, (Eurofound, 2019), they state that the main stress work-related factors are the long working hours, heavy workload, lack of control and autonomy at work, poor support at work and poor relationship with colleagues.
Since one of the factors of work-related stress is a poor relationship with colleagues, therefore the environment in the workplace keeps changing to improve this problem. The environment in the workplace is one of the factors that affect motivation at work. In the 1960s, the cubicles began in the market. This design, it’s to have personnel space in an open space. This design was dominated in the 1970s. However, the design of the workplace gradually evolved, it went from personnel cubicles to open areas. These open areas are supposed to have more communications between employers, break the walls between the categories of the different jobs in the company and have a more relaxed environment at work. Though, today there has been an article addressed open space office can trigger stress, more sick leaves, promote anxiety and depression (Tank, 2019).
Work, Attitudes, and the link between personality and performance are factors that influence motivation. When having a job, you need to try and balance out with life. Some organizations, try to improve their employee's balance between social life and work, by adding more social events, questionnaires and have a more changeable schedule. The attitude will show the job satisfaction and if their engagement to do their jobs/tasks (tell them how motivated the staff is). Lastly, there is the performance and personality, which they could use the knowledge to manipulate.
We could observe that four main factors of motivation at work are a success, money, stress, and the environment. Anyhow, motivation is not always positive or good for the employees. There are some problems that come with it. The consequence is monotony and boredom, which can be created by the absence of a variety of work, lack of skills or independence for the job, and the speed of work.
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